Montpellier and all that

11/08/2009 by Russell.

Gosh! is it really way back in July that I last made a post?

First up was Derren Brown, on 16th July - what could he offer? very clever and manipulative chap? Was it all so random? I never saw the join between set up (if there was one) and inspiring comments ‘How did he do that?’ He certainly tries to think out of the box, so much random selection in the audience with whizzing paper plates.  However, I did work out where he was going with the word ‘Enigma’ but how he arrived at that was completely (or to me at least) seemed random selection.  Thanks Derren, Greg and I will be back. And what about the McFly thing? well if you went you would know! so book your ticket for the next time round.
Within Days of this we were off to Montpellier to visit Sylvie. Up at the crack of dawn, in Montpellier before 11am, thanks to easyjet.

Needless to say we left a murky Luton to arrive in clear blue skies of the med. We went to town, to Palavas for beaches, to the old Roman Aquaduct of Pont du Nord, to Sete, Cap D’Agde, Millau and Lord Foster’s bridge, to the Camargue etc, oh and a spot of sunbathing.

Sadly I fell asleep and scorched my back - loser eh?, we had a good beach at Palavas, which was a 20 minute commute - although there are many beaches to choose from from La Grand Motte to Cap D’agde.  The weather was glorious every day, very hot, comparable to Greece and Corsica.  We were in shorts everyday, watching our Archos/iPod movies by night, or playing cards on the verandah with Prissine, Sebastien and our other host Anne Marie, for which Greg and I were very grateful for the two beds and of course Banjo a friendly dog, seeking breakfast with me everyday (oh for the days of my dog Penny).

The day we chose to go to the Camargue, about 40 mins away, we had a good day seeing the white horses although not as I imagined trotting through the surf, but our quest was the Flamingo’s. Which we found on a wildlife sanctuary near to the town of Saint Marie de la Mer, but the jewel of the Camargue is the fortified town of Aigues Mortes, where we found weaponry for an army(and that’s the shops!) to the most delightful confectionery shop selling biscuits, sweets and toffees.  We paid a few Euros in there for one of Gregs friends.  On the whole we had a great outing.

To drive on and see the Millau bridge over the Tarn Valley is spectacular to say the least. It clearly beat the pants off the alternative proposals, so who says Brits can’t do design? come in on budget and look aesthetically great (which was a requirement) - wonder if we include this on our civil engineeering projects.

Down side was my hearing, which at times plagued me.  Iwas in the little store buying Phillip’s bracelet when this chap said something behind me, thining he was speaking to me in french about the bracelets, I immediatley responded saying something like ‘just looking, Ok mate’ only to notice he was talking to someone on the the phone, me and Greg just howled with laughter.  We had some great light moments on holiday, especially in Intermache, taking one of those bags to put your fruit in off the dispenser…yup - the whole roll came shooting out across the floor of the supermarket..

The lilo was great on the beach and in the pool where we were staying.

I personally was on a quest for a pair of cycling shorts for my colleague Rob. we went everywhere, hypermarket, sports shops, until we arrived on the Saturday to the largest Decathlon I have ever seen, shorts? and boats and guns and wet suits and footwear and punch bags, and even lockers to put your belongings in as you went hunting for goods. So shorts were easy to purchase.

In all the only real mishap was my chipped tooth in the departure lounge at Montpellier airport, the tooth broke awaywith the filling and cost me £100 to repair..ho hum, back to normal now fiddling with my Dad’s house

Greg in Montpellier

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